I’ve been meaning to write about this for about a week now but I’ve just been very lazy! Anyway, onwards!

Rammstein’s support Combichrist started off proceedings at around 8pm, they showed a bit of promise in the first song as the singer marched up and down stage while two drummers laid down the fast-paced beat in the background. They seemed okay until we realised all of their songs basically merged into one with very little variation involved. One of the drummers kept throwing his sticks away at every opportunity and eventually trashed his kit. They also played a song called ‘Fuck that Shit’… indeed.

Shortly after clearing up that mess a ramp was rolled on stage in front of the black backdrop and the lights went down. The familiar opening of the song ‘Rammlied’ began to play, the audience started to get excited. The two guitarists Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers simultaneously started smashing through the backdrop shortly before singer Till Linderman took a blowtorch to the blackness and proceeded to cut his way through. After a few seconds of encouraging the crowd the backdrop pulled up and they started. No talking or anything. This set the pace for the rest of the show as the fireworks started marked the true start of the song. The band also didn’t say anything to us until right at the end!

Over the course of the show we were treated to a number of Rammstein classics from each of their previous albums (yes, even Rosenrot) however it seemed to be lacking on the Reise, Reise front. The show overall naturally leaned towards the new album with the rest of majority of the tracks came from Mutter and Sehnsucht.

The show was pretty eventful, not only were we treated to excellent firework displays but there was also head-mounted flamethrowers (worn by the singer and both guitarists), hanging dolls with lasers for eyes, which blew up at the climax of the song, the Pussy Cannon (spraying cum foam over the front of the audience). There was also this guy that was set on fire with a flame thrower on stage, at the time we weren’t 100% sure if that was part of the show as he ran back and forth on fire before falling down and getting dragged off by security (or were they roadies?)

Other key parts of the performance were where Flake got beaten up by Till during Ich Tu Dir Weh. He was then shoved into the bathtub before Till ascended on a platform and then proceeded to pour explosive liquid into the said bathtub. Flake eventually re-emerged from the bathtub in a sparkling suit, he slowly made his way across the stage doing this weird little dance before jumping back up to his keyboard and continued to walk. Seriously, the guy must’ve walked miles, he was on a treadmill for most of the night – must be how he keeps so slim!

Naturally when the show came to an end we wanted more, after three minutes our wish was granted as Rammstein came back out and performed two encores. The first started off with my favourite Rammstein song of all time – Sonne! This was then followed up by Halfisch, in which during the climax Flake was put into a rubber dingy and crowd surfed in it. During this time he pulled out a Union Jack flag and presented it. Flake rules! After this song ended the lights went down and Rammstein left the stage again.

After another short break they came back on stage again to perform their classic ‘Engel’. For this song Till donned huge wings, which eventually opened and let rip some flames every now and then. It was a hell of a display for the end of the show.

Back in September/October we found ourselves a little surprised at the admission fee of £45. We felt it was a bit steep in comparison to other bands we’d previously seen, but we’d pay it anyway as Rammstein don’t play around here very often. Was it worth the admission fee? Oh definitely! We plan on seeing them again next time they’re in these parts. We probably won’t see them when they come back to play Sonisphere as we believe their show may be neutered somewhat, but after the next album release? Hell yes!